“Babygirl” Director Halina Reijn Says Nicole Kidman’s Milk Scene Happened to Her in Real Life: ‘Very Sensual Thing to Do’

Art imitated life for director Halina Reijn.

Reijn — the director, writer and co-producer of new erotic thriller Babygirl starring Nicole Kidman — revealed in a recent W Magazine interview that a particularly sensual scene from the movie happened to her in real life.

That scene involves Kidman’s character Romy, a high-powered CEO and “perfect” wife and mother, accepting a tall glass of milk from male intern Samuel (played by Harris Dickinson) while at a bar with friends and coworkers. Romy drinks the milk, much to the bewilderment of the people around her, while making direct eye contact with the younger employee.

Reijn, 49, who was previously an actress, told the outlet that that a similar thing happened to her during her 30s when a “way, way younger” actor sent her a glass of milk at a bar.

“I drank it, and he just walked out,” she told W Magazine in her Dec. 25 profile. “I thought, ‘How does this guy get the courage?’ I did think it was a very sensual thing to do. And I thought it was very funny.’ ”

Related: Babygirl Review: Nicole Kidman Is at Her Brave Best in a Wild Tale of Sexual Adventure

The director also shared several behind-the-scenes details from the erotic film, including the fact that she hired a fight coordinator to help choreograph sex scenes between Kidman, 57, and Dickinson, 28.

“You can’t do a fight without a stunt coordinator. Your actors will get hurt, and it will look lame on camera,” she explained, adding, “It’s the same with sex scenes. It’s very, very useful to have someone who knows all the little tricks and makes everyone feel safe.”

She also noted that actors end up feeling more “free” when they have a choreographed plan for these vulnerable moments.

Related: Nicole Kidman Felt 'Exposed' Making Erotic Thriller Babygirl: 'This Is Something You Do and Hide in Your Home Videos'

“Funny enough, the days with intimacy scenes are often the most clear. There are still nerves, but everybody comes to set super prepared,” Reijn explained. ”I wanted those scenes to feel incredibly hot and steamy and fun, but I also wanted them to be real.”

She continued, “Sexuality is stop-and-go. It’s never like a glamour scene from a Hollywood movie in the ’90s. That’s just not how it works.”

Reijn also opened up about how she initially was afraid she wouldn’t be able to find a young male actor who could hold his own against Kidman.

“Once Nicole was on board, I woke up totally panicked,” she told the outlet. “We had one of the best actors in the world. It’s impossible to find a young man who’s not only as good as her, but can dominate her.”

“But then I saw Harris in Triangle of Sadness,” she added. “He’s so vulnerable, yet so masculine and macho. He’s kind of an ideal man because he has all of these layers.”

Related: Nicole Kidman Says Exploring Kink in S&M Thriller Babygirl Required ‘An Enormous Amount of Trust’

As for criticism of the age gap between the two actors?

"If we see a movie where the male actor is the same age as the female actor, we find that odd. Which is insane," she said. "It should completely be normalized that the age gaps switch and that women have different relationships."

Kidman agreed. While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter this month, the Big Little Lies actress noted that "a lot of times women are discarded at a certain period of their career as a sexual being," so "it was really beautiful to be seen in this way" in Babygirl.

"From the minute I read it, I was like, 'Yeah, this is a voice I haven’t seen, this is a place that I haven’t been, I don’t think audiences have been,' " Kidman said. "My character has reached a stage where she’s got all this power, but she’s not sure who she is, what she wants, what she desires, even though she seems to have it all. And I think that’s really relatable."

Babygirl, which also stars Antonio Banderas, is in theaters now.

Read the original article on People